Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Iraq in the Future Perfect Tense

By John Leland January 6, 2010 11:15 amJanuary 6, 2010 11:15 am

Simple word choices can tell a lot about a place. In American public conversation, Iraq is slipping into the future perfect tense — away from what is happening now, to what will have happened in the future.

At a news conference this week at the American Embassy, Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, skipped past the upcoming elections in March, which have generated protracted political infighting and possibly been a motivating factor in three massive bomb attacks on government buildings, to discuss the impact that will have emerged from them.

“We have created a model here of a self-governing, self-defending country in the middle of this critical region,” Mr. Lieberman said, adopting the perspective of the future present, looking back on an event that has not yet happened. “And I believe that what we’re now going to see in the decades ahead is Iraq re-assuming its historic role as a center of progress and political leadership in this part of the world.”

In a 24-minute news conference, the senators referred to Iraq as a “model” for the Middle East four times, and as an “example” once.

The tense shift is a measure both of progress and of America’s shifting focus. With 110,000 United States troops still in Iraq, and fears growing of violence before the elections, the military part of the invasion and occupation — “this bloody conflict,” Mr. McCain called it — has receded into the rhetorical past. Instead, the perspective is increasingly post-election or post-drawdown. As an American Marine officer told The Times’s Rod Nordland back in July, “We’re so out of here.”

Mr. Lieberman, taking stock of an Iraq that has yet to emerge, said: “We have together made history here, but more important than making history, we changed history. We didn’t accept as inevitable the collapse of Iraq and the subversion of Iraq by extremist forces.”

Of course, Iraq is not the only part of the world competing to exist in the present tense. Tense is a marker of priority.

Mr. Lieberman cited an American in Yemen whose words were “perhaps a bit overstated but it makes a point,” the senator said. “He said to me, ‘Iraq was yesterday’s war; Afghanistan is today’s war; and if we do not act pre-emptively now Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.’”

In today’s word choices, sometimes, are the framings of tomorrow’s policies. Iraq is so yesterday.

What's Next

About

At War is a reported blog from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other conflicts in the post-9/11 era. The New York Times's award-winning team provides insight — and answers questions — about combatants on the faultlines, and civilians caught in the middle.

Behind the Curtain

Remembering a Fallen Colleague

The New York Times has established an education fund for the children of Sultan Munadi, an Afghan journalist who was slain in Afghanistan in 2009. Learn more about him and how you can contribute here. »

Archive

Recent Posts

Marine Corps Captain Calum Rammhe, a longtime marathon runner, ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days to raise money for a charity that supports wounded Marines and their families. It also let him reflect on why running is more than a hobby for him. Read more…